This will be competition to prove a point meaning that the winner will be determined NOT by who proves the other wrong, but who better proves their point through logic and reasoning.

Both sides do not have to talk about the same topic, but it is highly suggested

Rules-
1) Not evidence or outside examples. the only exceptions would be scenarios that Just about anybody could relate to (EX- going to a restaurant, or riding in a car)

2) No Clash! do not attack your opponents points; only build your own. the point of this debate is who may prove their point the best. even if both sides use the same topic, and take opposing stances, your arguments cannot have anything to do with the opponent's arguments (unless by chance)

3)Keep it clean. if the example or logic is not appropriate for a grade school kid, you can't use it. that does not mean however you cannot use logic above that level, it just means it would have to be appropriate.

4) you may only argue a maximum of 3 Points.

5) topics must be open ended and slightly vague
Structure-
Round 1 is for Rule Clarification and Greetings
Round 2 is for Constructive Arguments
-Max of three points, structure this speech like this

Speech Topic (Mandatory)

Opening statements (Optional)

Point 1
Point 2 (Optional)
Point 3 (Optional)

Closing statements (optional)

Round 3 is for Argument Extensions, and Clarifications
-Same structure as prior, but you may make NO New arguments. this speech to to clarify earlier arguments, and extend your prior made points.

Optional-
Clarifications

Mandatory-
Extensions

Round 4 is for closing arguments (must be in the same line of thought as the first two speeches, but you can make final arguments here that aren't linear to the first couple of points)

We look at society and examine all that mankind is, all that he has done, and all that he will ever be; and we come to the realization, that we all want something to believe in. Whether we call our self a believer in Jesus Christ, a follower of Muhammad, or opt to believe in the Theory of Evolution. We have a craving; a desire if you will, to say "I believe!". So then when it comes to a moment in a child's life, that they are considered old enough to be told "The Truth", or to be told their belief is childish, or even when they themselves come to a supposedly conclusive fact, that the big man in white and red is a fabrication, it is a very sad moment.

It is so sad, because man need to believe. And so I will stand in firm advocation, that "Santa Clause Is Real".

no in order for maximum clarity, will present three points in the following order
1. Reality is subjective
2. Beliefs can go beyond reality
3. Santa Clause is intertwined with the very spirit Christmas itself

so lets jump into my first point, Reality is subjective

So many times in life we figure it all out. We know what's real, and what's not we understand that something either exists or it doesn't. For instance, heat and cold both exist. we know this because we can feel heat on our flesh and the same for cold.

however this is really only an assumption.
There is heat, and we can measure heat. but who's to say there is cold? Even in cold there exists minute amounts of, guess what? Heat. so while I may see 60 degrees as "Cold" some-one else may see it as perfectly warm. Cold is a very subjective thing.

And in the same way, so is reality. If a person believes in Karma, then to them it is real, if a person does not (like me for instance) then it is not.
if a person believes in luck, then luck real, if a person does not (again this would be me) then luck does not exist.

Or another example for this, could be a cartoon character. Does Spongebob exist? Yes. Every single day Nickelodeon shows his show on their prime-time line up. go into a wal-mart and you can find his merchandise.
So in the same way, who is to say that Santa Clause does not exist?

so going on to my second point, Beliefs can go beyond reality.

this point ties into my prior point on many levels. Reality is subjective to perception, and so a belief can go beyond the natural realms of reality. that's exactly what it is called a belief and not a fact.

A belief is based on faith, not fact; so some-body can hold a belief with-out having any proof or probable reason for believing it.

so regardless of whether or not your reality accepts the existence of old Saint Nick others in your life can believe in him, and that ultimately makes him very real to them.

and finally we go to my third and final point, that Santa Clause is intertwined into the very spirit of Christmas itself.

I ask you for a moment to set aside your personal beliefs to truly grasp the logic of this point.
Now consider for a moment, I am a Christian; and I believe that I celebrate Christmas to celebrate my savior's birth, not to celebrate Santa Clause. However, consider the symbolism behind Santa Clause. He comes to people, and even thought he has no obligation to do so, freely gives to them.

What did Jesus come and do? He freely gave his own life away, even though he had no obligation to do so.

And so in closing, each and every single person needs something to believe. And when we keep in mind that reality is subjective, Beliefs can go beyond reality, and Santa Clause is intertwined with the very spirit Christmas itself. it would be foolish to say that the old man didn't exist. Whether or not he exists in a physical manifestation, or in the hearts and minds of people everywhere. The point is Santa Clause Is real.

First off I would like to congratulate Hello-Orange on a fantastic and enjoyable speech. I agree that a people's beliefs create their realities, because without our beliefs, really, what are we? This topic actually is what gave me the idea for my speech, so I would also like to thank my opponent for this.

THE MEANING OF LIFE

Humans are the most intelligent beings on the planet, and arguably, the universe (for those of you who don't believe in alien life forms). We have evolved greatly from the beginning of our existence here on earth. Our knowledge only grows and continues to grow, with each and every passing year. Why is it that we learn so rapidly? It is because from the beginning, man kind has always asked questions. How can we search for an answer without the question?
There are many big questions that man has asked yet still search for the answer to. Such as, "Why are we here?", "What happens after death?", or "Is their a greater being?". There are so many questions, but I think that (arguably) the biggest one, is "What is the meaning of life?".
So for this speech, my goal will be to inform you all, what I believe the answer to that question is.

My answer to the question is: To enjoy life!

My main points for the round will be as follows.

1. We don't have all the answers.
2. Time not enjoyed, is time wasted.
3. We live to enjoy, yet we constantly deny it.

Going into my first point, We obviously don't have all the answers.

Why else would some of the questions above be so controversial? I think it's great that my opponent brought up the subject of relative beliefs, because it actually ties into the point I am trying to make. As my opponent said, we base our realities, off of our beliefs. So be basically live our beliefs, and perceptions. In truth that is all we have.

We choose our beliefs because we enjoy them. If we do not enjoy our beliefs, and the prospects of them, it is because we have been born and raised to believe in something, that doesn't correlate to our own personal views and beliefs!

Given the fact that we don't know the answers to such hard questions, why would we waste so much time and energy of our lives on them?

Which leads me into my second point.
Time not enjoyed is time wasted!

Everything we do on this earth, whether we know it or not, is to achieve some sort of goal of happiness. Even those who commit their lives to acts of terror, know (given their beliefs) that they will be rewarded in the afterlife, which is their happiness.

We go to work everyday, such that we can support ourselves or our families. But it is more than that. Because living is more than just staying alive. To really live, we need to enjoy our lives and have fun!

What I mean when I say the rest is "time wasted", is this. If you were to go into an office every single day of your life, to earn money to live, yet never did anything to enjoy your life, what would the point of life be? There is simply no such gain of value from wasting your life away at a good job, with no end mean.

So why not make a living doing what we love instead? The pay may not be great, but at least we enjoy ourselves, thus fulfilling some sort of life goals based on our perceptions and beliefs. If you were to die this way, knowing that you have accomplished all the goals in life to make you happy, how could you ever say it was a life wasted?

And again this ties into my third point. We live to enjoy, yet we constantly deny it!

Alot of us have dis-illusioned ourselves to believe that in order to accomplish our wants, me must first accomplish our needs! We fail to see that is it possible to accomplish our needs by first acknowledging our wants. So technically this boils down to our attitude about life.

Here's an explanation of how we illusion ourselves into unhappiness by telling ourselves that we must accomplish our needs to be happy.

Average mindset:

I need _____.

If I have _____ then I will get _____.

Now let me point out the flaw with this mindset that creates unhappiness, by filling in the blanks.

EX:
I need a good job.

If I have a good job then I will get Good money.

If I get good money, I can pay my bills.

If I can pay my bills then I can focus on Building my fence.

If I Build my fence, then I can clean my house.

If I clean my house... Etc. Etc.

Truth is, the list can perpetually go on and on, til virtually forever. Yet at the same time we deny ourselves of happiness, when replacing our wants with needs.

Really, what do we accomplish by accepting a need? Better attainability to accomplish other needs?

All the while, by doing this we neglect and deny that what we WANT is happiness, and by doing so, refuse to obtain it.

What if happiness was as simple to achieve, by easily reaching out in front of us and taking it? By enjoying all the little things in our life, such that we don't have to neglect and distrust that it is there, out hanging right before our blinded eyes?

What if we went into all of our daily actions with an attitude of "This is what I want!", such that we can obtain our one and only true need. The need to be happy, and enjoy life.

So to conclude, let's replace the 'need to need' with the 'desire to want'.

So let's not waste our time doing what we do not want to do, rather than enjoying and embracing that which makes us happy. That which makes us feel accomplishment at the end of the day, and answers the question, "What is the meaning of life?". Because if were happy, does that question really even matter?

Thankyou. :)

Subnote:
I Would like to Thank "Great Life 273" Directer Duane Smotherman, for all the learned knowledge posted in this debate.

*Off the record*Like-wise to the beginning of my opponent's last speech, I offer a big fat ditto! While I disagree with a few mute points about my opponent's oratory, it was none-the-less a very much enjoyable experience reading it.

So now going on to my own speech,
I am thankful to say that I feel clarifications are not necessary, so I will use all of my time expanding upon, and extending my prior points. so I can show you, that Santa Clause is indeed real.

So first, reality is subjective.
As I stated before there are many many times in our lives that we get that (Ah-Ha!) epiphany moment, in which we feel we have it all figured out. Life is one way, and one way alone. However these (are as opposed to the assumed freedom) restricting chains that bind our minds to an empty world. Mankind can never know for certain; that they know anything for certain. to say Santa clause does not exist would be an assumption of fact, wherein this cannot known as fact. To one person he may not exist, but to another (i.e. me) he is as alive as can be.

And moving the extensions right along, beliefs can go beyond reality.
So lets assume for a moment that the tangibility we inhabit is fact reality. (A leap I know, but bare with me) the thing we believe, or believe in can go beyond this tangibility. Are Ideas Tangible? Are thoughts Tangible? Unless you had backstage passes to the preview of Inception; the answer is no. but that doesn't mean we have to believe them any less. Au Contrair, that makes them all the more appealing to believe, all the more appealing to be real.

So maybe you will to deny that Saint Nickolas never existed? He still exists at the bare minimum in the ideological realm of thought an emotion.

but more than that, we can finish by reviewing that Santa Clause is intertwined with the very spirit of Christmas itself.

I defy you to leave your home during the month of January, and not see this man's merchandise everywhere. His face will be plastered everywhere, his cartoon special will invade you T.V. and your heart will grow warm with the though of his elves in the north. You see even though the commercialism of Old Saint Nick is present, it's his spirit does not die.
It's the symbolism he holds, and the memories he makes.

Whether you believe in Santa, whether you do not. Our very innate nature calls us to believe in something, anything!

Great speech continuation! Now moving from formalities, I will begin my extensions.

We don't have all the answers: EXTENSION

Given that we humans are constantly looking for answers to the most meaningful questions, we must look at the way we respond to how we answer them. The most important part of enjoying life, is realizing that the answer has both a physical and mental effect on the person in question.

For example, I feed into my beliefs, thus my believes live me. Therefore, I am my beliefs! So if I believe that my religion is what will take me to a higher place, or bring me closer to a higher being, and for me, that means happiness, then there's is nothing else in the world that I should be doing instead.

A great fictional example would be George Mason, a character who devoted his whole life working for the government, just for an extra 5000$ annual pay, where he could have been a teacher, something he always wanted to do. He had given up his dream for worldly purposes, and in the process loses his connection to his family.

While this is a fictional example, this kind of thing happens all the time. We humans get caught up with the "need" for power, and the "need" for money, that we displace our other values. The way we choose to live, gives validation to what I like to call our "Grungies". When I say "you have a bad case of the grungies", what I am really saying is that "You're a pessimist". Given the fact the we love to feed into the grungies and validate them, is what pushes the outlook that we are in peril. So yes, It's really all in the attitude!

If I really sit down and analyze all my income, and the way I spend time and money, I may just realize that money comes always quickly and easily. And time isn't really all that restraining. If I create for myself that I am stressed for time, which is why I must cancel out other tasks, I have failed myself, because I have not analyzed all of my options carefully enough to realize that both options could have been worked out. I break my word to one, in order to keep another, and re-assure myself that one is more important than the other.

But really, what is more important than our word? This "Need" to constrain, is what dis-allows us to enjoy life properly, and what violates our meaning and value of life. Because if we don't acknowledge that we are worth happiness in our lives, how can we ever live it!

Time not enjoyed is time wasted: EXTENSION/CLARIFICATION

This point is not to be confused that we cannot be happy while not enjoying 'every second of our lives'. What I mean with this point is why not change our attitudes such that we can enjoy everything we do such that we don't waste time!
Obviously if I am at work looking forward to getting home to a family, I will not be enjoying the time at work. Which is why this world is full of possibilities of attitude. I could simply focus on the fact that because of me doing this job I get to enjoy the after effects, thus is why I enjoy said job!

We live to enjoy, yet we constantly deny it! EXTENSION

Every single thing we do, we do so that we can enjoy. If I were to ask you why you do anything specific thing, the answer for you doing what you do would probably have to result in some end benefit for you, other wise why do it?
All of our actions, support the same basic goal of trying to enjoy life, or accomplish happiness, when we don't get caught up with worldly things, which only bring the illusion of happiness.

The Illusion of happiness, is something that we use to bring us 'happiness' although we secretly know that it won't be happiness. Addictions bring the illusion of happiness. If we were to ask ourselves why we fed into any of these addictions, and what about them made us happy, most of us would be left speechless. We do these things to cover up our happiness.

I believe the meaning of life is to enjoy it, and change my attitude such that I can enjoy life!
My attitude dictates my feelings, and believe it or not, I can choose, and have the power to change my attitude!
In truth we all have this power.

That where wonderful extensions and clarifications from my opponent!
So now I will, I will give my closing points.

You, whomever you might be have more likely than not read all of the prior of this debate, otherwise you would not be reading this. So I am not going to waste your time by attempting to re-iterate every part of my oratory.

instead this will be short and sweet.

Santa Clause is very much so real, in our hearts and in our minds. We tend to get so caught up in what is and what is not, that we forget to dream; we forget to lose ourselves in the childhood innocence of yesteryear. But I urge you all, for just a moment do not worry about being an Adult/ a Teen/ a Parent. I ask you to take a moment to be a child again. to relive a moment, when everything was possible, and everything was real. Because even now, that is true. all things are possible- we can dream and we can believe

So while I feel I have shown how Santa Clause is real, I feel the purpose here runs much deeper than that. Because in our hearts we still pine for these childish wonders, and we still hold them close as precious memories and joyous times near forgotten.

But I plead, don't forget to dream; Never Grow up. Santa Clause, is real.

following the same schedule over and over again, are we really accomplishing anything worthy of saying that we're truly living? In order for us to enjoy the full effects of happiness that life really has to offer, we absolutely must change our attitudes accordingly such that we can see all the glorious things!
What's life without enjoyment?
What's anything unless you can feel happy doing it?

I'm not saying that we should all be "happy go-lucky" all the time. It's okay to feel hurt, and to be sad when things happen. But It's up to us on whether we choose to hold on to them or not! Yes, each and every one of you really are that powerful!

Let's not hold on to our grungies and get things done! Let's apply for that job you've always wanted. Let's go on that vacation you've been waiting to go on for years! Let's see places and do things that you thought un-imaginable!
Let's live!

So many of us choose to live life as zombies, lifeless, dull, meaningless. Let's put that meaning back into our lives again.
Because the meaning of life to me, is to enjoy it.

Thankyou.

(p.s. I would like to thank my opponent one last time for a great debate, and thank all of you who read this through, for taking some time out of your lives to read some hopefully informing speeches.)